First hurdle cleared in bid for 2015 Universiade Games

Canadian Interuniversity Sport yesterday morning announced that it had chosen Edmonton as the host city for the 2015 Universiade Games.

It's a moment Mike Mahon, dean of the Faculty of Physical Education and Recreation has been waiting for for a long time. "We are very proud that years of work on this bid have finally paid off," said Mahon at a news conference yesterday at City Hall. "It's been a long time coming but I'm proud to say that all the effort expended by a very dedicated team of University and City staff has paid off."

Now Sport Canada will decide whether to support the bid with federal funding. Sport Canada may also consider other international bids from other Canadian cities including a bid from Toronto for the Pan American Games in the same year.

If funding is approved, the bid will progress to the final, international competition.

The City of Edmonton and the University of Alberta have been working together on a Universiade bid for several years. Sport Canada was not able to fund earlier bids for 2009 and 2013 games.

In terms of process, said Mahon, the summer will be a busy one, as the bid committee prepares to secure provincial and federal funding support - two critical elements in preparation for the international bid.

"This will take place over the summer with the need for a letter of intent to go into FISU by fall of 2008. The final bid will have to be submitted by January 2009; in March 2009 we would have a site visitation and finally the decision as to whether we would be awarded the Games will be in June 2009," he said.

The Edmonton bid committee is chaired by University of Alberta chancellor Eric Newell. "We are grateful for the endorsement from CIS and we look forward to the next phase of the bid process," he said. "Clearly we prepared a very thorough and compelling case for Edmonton as the ideal host city. Thanks to the commitment of Edmontonians, our track record in successfully hosting world-class competition is extremely strong."

"If we're fortunate enough to win the international bid, the Universiade will create an exceptional and life-changing experience for student athletes and will help us attract high-calibre athletes, coaches and staff from across Canada and around the world to the U of A," added Mahon.

One of the strengths of Edmonton's bid is the city's existing inventory of competition venues. "Edmonton is unique in that we have regularly renovated our facilities to keep them at international competition standards," explained City manager Al Maurer. "Our budget is very competitive because we require relatively few new facilities."

The bid proposes some facility upgrades and some new capital projects including an additional 50-metre competition pool at the Kinsmen Field House and a South Campus Field House at the U of A.

The Universiade is held every two years. In 2015, organizers expect 10,000 athletes, coaches and team officials from 175 countries. The economic impact for the games is projected to be $259 million for Alberta and $185.5 million for Edmonton.

"What this means to the University of Alberta," said Mahon, "is that, as our president Indira Samarasekera says, this is a University that sees itself on the international stage. We are in pursuit a goal to be amongst the top 20 public universities in the world by 2020 and the Universiade Games is an opportunity to position our University on that stage.

From a sport development perspective this continues to enable us to position both our faculty and University as leaders in sport development in Alberta, Canada and indeed the world. We're very pleased to be able to pursue international events and enable student-athletes from around Canada to pursue international competition.

We are very excited about the opportunity to welcome universities from around the world to Edmonton, if we win the bid."

Edmonton last hosted the Universiade in 1983 and it was last held in North America in 1994.

Mahon indicated that he was optimistic about the return of the Games to North America. "This is a continent that FISU would really like to come back to. They have spent a fair amount time in Asia and Europe over the last number of years so we're hopeful that this will work in our favour."